From August 25 to September 4, readers of FT Summer School have a rare opportunity to win a place on an executive education programme at a leading international business school, Columbia Business School of Columbia University in the City of New York.

As the leading U.S. business school with an international focus, Columbia offers executive education programmes that deliver a rich, global perspective on the latest ideas and trends driving business around the world. Their custom and open-enrollment programmes focus on the integration of theory and practice and provide individual and organisation benefit.

Using your general knowledge of business, as well as facts and figures gleaned from the articles in the series, answer the 15 multiple choice questions below, then write a short essay of between 200 and 400 words on the general issue raised in question 16. Winners will be selected and notified at the end of September.

1. Entrants must be 25 years old or older on August 25 2005.
2. The prize covers tuition at Columbia Executive Education – not travel to and from New York at the beginning and end of the course. Accommodations may be included also, depending on the format of the programme attended.
3. All entrants must submit all personal details specified below. Failure to do so may result in disqualification from the competition.
4. Entrants must read and agree to the terms and conditions specified here

1. After an initial public offering in the US, holders of unregistered shares are prohibited from selling or hedging their shares for a certain period. This “lock-up” period, which is dictated by the underwriters, is typically:
   • 10 days
   • 60 days
   • 180 days
   • 365 days
2. In his 1980 book, Competitive Strategy, Michael Porter says that industry prospects are determined by the interplay of five forces. These are:
   • bargaining power of buyers; bargaining power of suppliers; intensity of industry rivalry; threat of new entrants; threat of substitutes
   • bargaining power of buyers; bargaining power of employees; intensity of industry rivalry; threat of new entrants; threat of substitutes
   • bargaining power of buyers; bargaining power of suppliers; economies of scale in industry; threat of new entrants; threat of substitutes
   • bargaining power of buyers; bargaining power of suppliers; intensity of innovation; threat of substitutes; threat of new entrants
3. Earnings per share is calculated as:
   • Profits after tax divided by number of shares in issue
   • Profits before tax multiplied by number of shares in issue
   • Profits before tax divided by number of shares in issue
   • Profits after tax divided by share price
4. Six Sigma, the approach to fault reduction pioneered at Motorola and popularised by GE, refers to the reduction of errors to six standard deviations from the mean value of a process output or task opportunity. In other words:
   • 1 error in 10,000 opportunities
   • 1 error in 300,000 opportunities
   • 1 error in 600,000 opportunities
   • 1 error in 2,000,000 opportunities
5. “Management means, in the last analysis, the substitution of thought for brawn and muscle, of knowledge for folkways and superstition, and of cooperation for force. It means the substitution of responsibility for obedience to rank, and of authority of performance for the authority of rank.” Who said this?
   • Peter Drucker
   • Peter Senge
   • Henry Mintzberg
   • Gary Hamel
6. Other things being equal, a rise in UK interest rates will:
   • Lead sterling to rise against other currencies and cause export prices paid by foreigners to fall
   • Lead sterling to fall against other currencies and cause export prices paid by foreigners to rise
   • Lead sterling to fall against other currencies and cause export prices paid by foreigners to fall
   • Lead sterling to rise against other currencies and cause export prices paid by foreigners to rise
7. Who is this man?
   
   
   • Klaus-Peter Müller
   • Antonio Fazio
   • Bettino Craxi
   • Gianpiero Fiorani
8. Who recently announced a drive for environmentally sound technology called "Ecomagination"?
   • Lord Browne at BP
   • James McNerney at Boeing
   • Martin Lukes at a-b global
   • Jeffrey Immelt at General Electric
9. What price could a barrel of oil reach in the event of a "super spike", according to a recent Goldman Sachs report?
   • $50
   • $75
   • $105
   • $500
10. What did Dominique de Villepin, French prime minister, say after PepsiCo was rumoured to be preparing a takeover bid for Danone?
    • "No comment"
    • "We must regroup our forces to defend France."
    • "French national champions are always expanding overseas, let the Americans have a go."
    • "It's not the government's job to interfere."
11. What is Guy Kawasaki's 10/20/30 rule for pitching business ideas to investors?
    • At least 10 products, 20 market segments and 30 potential investors
    • The average successful pitch takes 10 entrepreneurs, 20 attempts and £30 of stationery
    • Spend 10 months researching your idea, 20 weeks writing your pitch and 30 minutes presenting it
    • No more than 10 slides, less than 20 minutes long and write in 30-point font
12. What is "Fast Forward"?
    • A cost-cutting programme at Reuters
    • Starbucks' strategy of coffee shop domination
    • Ford's drive to outsource production to China
    • Banco Santander Central Hispano's swift rebranding of Abbey National
13. Which of the following is the title of a book by Charles Handy, the British management guru:
    • The elephant and the doughnut
    • The empty raincoat
    • The dirty mackintosh
    • The hungry employee
14. “You & Us” is the advertising slogan of which investment bank?
    • CSFB
    • Morgan Stanley
    • Citigroup
    • UBS
15. Which of these is not a euphemism for sacking people?
    • Rightsizing
    • Offboarding
    • Downshifting
    • Delayering
16. How should chief executives best respond to the growing pensions crisis?
    Answers should be between 200 and 400 words in length.
    
    

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